spatial skills. After eliminating outliers, the average effect size (Hedges’s g) for training relative to control was 0.47 (SE 0.04). Training effects were stable and were not affected by delays between training and posttesting. Training also transferred to other spatial tasks that were not directly trained. We analyzed the effects of several moderators, including the presence and type of control groups, sex, age, and type of training. Additionally, we included a theoretically motivated typology of spatial skills that emphasizes 2 dimensions: intrinsic versus extrinsic and static versus dynamic (Newcombe & Shipley, in press). Finally, we consider the potential educational and policy implications of directly training spatial skills. Considered together, the results suggest that spatially enriched education could pay substantial dividends in increasing participation in mathematics, science, and engineering.

/pdf/the-malleability-of-spatial-skills-a-meta-analysis-of-1w8zudgdfr.pdf

The malleability of spatial skills: a meta-analysis of training studies.

The research reported in this paper focussed on the design of learning environments that support the teaching and learning of argumentation in a scientific context. The research took place over two years between 1999 and 2001 in junior high schools in the greater London area. The research was conducted in two phases. In the first developmental phase, working with a group of 12 science teachers, the main emphasis was to develop sets of materials and strategies to support argumentation in the classroom and to assess teachers‘ development with teaching argumentation. Data were collected by videoing and audio recording the teachers attempts to implement these lessons at the beginning and end of the year. During this phase, analytical tools for evaluating the quality of argumentation were developed based on Toulmin‘s argument pattern. Analysis of the data shows that there was significant development in the majority of teachers use of argumentation across the year. Results indicate that the pattern of use of argumentation is teacher specific, as is the nature of the change. In the second phase of the project, teachers taught the experimental groups a minimum of nine lessons which involved socioscientific or scientific argumentation. In addition, these teachers taught similar lessons to a control group at the beginning and end of the year. Here the emphasis lay on assessing the progression in student capabilities with argumentation. Hence data were collected from several lessons of two groups of students engaging in argumentation. Using a framework for evaluating the nature of the discourse and its quality, the findings show that there was an improvement in the quality of students‘ argumentation. In addition, the research offers methodological developments for work in this field.

http://disciplinas.stoa.usp.br/pluginfile.php/28363/mod_resource/content/1/Enhancing%20the%20Quality%20of%20Argumentation%20in%20School%20Science.pdf

Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school science

This study investigated (a) mathematics achievement (Test of Academic Progress) of 589 female and 644 male, predominantly white, 9th-12th grade students enrolled in mathematics courses from four schools, controlling for mathematics background and general ability (Quick Word Test); (b) relationships to mathematics achievement, and to sex-related differences in mathematics achievement, of spatial visualization (Differential Aptitude Test), eight attitudes measured by the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, a measure of Mathematics Activities outside of school, and number of Mathematics Related Courses and Space Related Courses taken. Complex results were obtained. Few sex-related cognitive differences but many attitudinal differences were found. Analyses of variance, covariance, correlation, and principal components analysis techniques were used. The results showed important relationships between socio-cultural factors and sex-related cognitive differences.

Sex-related defferences in mathematics achievement, spatial visualization, and affective factors

A reliability generalization study for Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was conducted. A total of 816 research articles utilizing the STAI between 1990 and 2000 were reviewed and ...

Reliability Generalization of Scores on the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory:

Engineering education research (EER) has been on the fast track since 2004 with an exponential rise in the number of Ph.D.s awarded and the establishment of new programs, even entire EER departments. The National Research Council’s Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) report (National Research Council, 2012) captures the state-of-the-art advances in our understanding of engineering and science student learning and highlights commonalities with other science-based education research programs. The DBER report is the consensus analysis of experts in undergraduate education research in physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, astronomy, and engineering. The study committee, chaired by Susan Singer, also included higher education researchers, learning scientists, and cognitive psychologists. A central aspect of the DBER report is the focus on and application of research in the education, learning, and social-behavioral sciences to science and engineering curricula design and teaching methods. Froyd, Wankat, and Smith (2012) identified five major shifts in engineering education in the past 100 years: 1. A shift from hands-on and practical emphasis to engineering science and analytical emphasis 2. A shift to outcomes-based education and accreditation 3. A shift to emphasizing engineering design 4. A shift to applying education, learning, and social-behavioral sciences research 5. A shift to integrating information, computational, and communications technology in education

Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in

This study was conducted to investigate differences in spatial visualization abilities and effects of instruction on spatial visualization skills of fifth through eighth grade students by grade, sex, and site. About 1,000 students from three sites, representing a wide range of socioeconomic status, participated in the study. The spatial visualization unit engaged students in concrete activities, building and drawing solids made of cubes. The instrument used was the MGMP Spatial Visualization Test, with a test-retest reliability of .79, and Cronbach’s reliability coefficients for various groups of students ranged from .72 to .86 on the pretest and from .82 to .88 on the posttest. Before instruction, there were significant differences in spatial visualization performance by grade (increasing with age), by sex (favoring boys), and by site (increasing with socioeconomic status). After instruction, fifth through eighth grade students profited considerably from instruction, and the gain was similar for boys and...

The Effect of Instruction on Spatial Visualization Skills of Middle School Boys and Girls

Contextual problems involving rational numbers and proportional reasoning were presented to seventh grade students with different curricular experiences. There is strong evidence that students in reform curricula, who are encouraged to construct their own conceptual and procedural knowledge of proportionality through collaborative problem solving activities, perform better than students with more traditional, teacher-directed instructional experiences. Seventh grade students, especially those who study the new curricula, are capable of developing their own repertoire of sense-making tools to help them to produce creative solutions and explanations. This is demonstrated through analysis of solution strategies applied by students to a variety of rate problems.

Proportional Reasoning among 7th Grade Students with Different Curricular Experiences.

The purpose of this study was to look for interrelations between the study of introductory geology courses and the development of spatial-visualization ability. The study was conducted among 32 undergraduate students during their first year of earth sciences study in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The students' spatial-visualization ability was measured at the beginning and at the end of the course by two different validated instruments. Pre- and post-geology scores were analyzed for any significant change and for correlation with final scores in the course. Results indicated that the students' spatial-visualization ability significantly improved after the first geology course was taken. Interviews revealed that the students claimed that only the earth-science courses required spatial-visualization skills. It is suggested that there is a two-way relationship between studying earth science and spatial-visualization skills. It seems that studying earth science itself might improve student spatial-visua...

Relationship Between Earth-Science Education and Spatial Visualization

The trait anxiety profile of future science teachers, as well as their preferences concerning types of examinations in science and mathematics, have been surveyed prior to the administration—within the various science courses—of several traditional and nontraditional types of examinations and the assessment of students' state anxieties as well as their respective performance, i.e., their academic achievements. Our major findings are that 

(a)
Our students prefer by far examinations in which the emphasis is on understanding and analyzing rather than on knowing and “remembering,” that the use of any relevant material during the examinations be permitted, and that the time duration be practically unlimited (e.g., “take-home”–type examinations).

(b)
Students' state anxiety correlates with the type of the examination, with a tendency towards somewhat higher anxiety for females. The preferred types of examinations reduce test anxiety significantly, and result in higher grades accordingly.

(c)
The reduction of anxiety and the improvement in achievements as a function of the examination type are far more significant for low achievers compared with medium and high achievers.

(d)
Although teachers are aware of the student preferences, they persist in giving their students their own “pet”-type examinations.





These results are discussed in terms of the implications for upgrading both science education and college student testing and assessment mechanisms.

Interaction between Examination Type, Anxiety State, and Academic Achievement in College Science; an Action-Oriented Research.

Ratio and proportion : research and teaching in mathematics teachers' education (pre- and in-service mathematics teachers of elementary and middle school classes)

David Ben-Chaim

Papers

The Effect of Instruction on Spatial Visualization Skills of Middle School Boys and Girls

Proportional Reasoning among 7th Grade Students with Different Curricular Experiences.

Relationship Between Earth-Science Education and Spatial Visualization

Interaction between Examination Type, Anxiety State, and Academic Achievement in College Science; an Action-Oriented Research.

Ratio and proportion : research and teaching in mathematics teachers' education (pre- and in-service mathematics teachers of elementary and middle school classes)